To celebrate Vikings Live, we have replaced our Roman alphabet with the runic alphabet used by the Vikings, the Scandinavian ‘Younger Futhark’. The ‘Younger Futhark’ has only 16 letters, so we have used some of the runic letters more than once or combined two runes for one Roman letter.

Pharaoh: King of Egypt

Supported through the generosity of the Dorset Foundation

The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt presented themselves as all-powerful, brave military leaders and devout rulers. As representative of the gods on earth, it was a pharaoh’s duty to maintain universal order through ritual and by protecting Egypt from foreign enemies. Their monuments and treasures project an image of power, but the realities of Egyptian kingship were often very different. At times, Egypt was divided by civil war, conquered by foreign powers, or ruled by competing pharaohs.

The objects in this exhibition have been chosen to explore the role of kingship in ancient Egypt. They are divided into themes, reflecting royal life, duties, and challenges. Spanning over 3,000 years of history, they range from exquisite palace decorations to accounts of assassination attempts. While many surviving objects from Egypt project the image pharaohs wanted us to see, the exhibition also explores the realities of ruling this dynamic civilisation.

All of the objects in the exhibition can be found in the British Museum collection database online. See all of the objects